Led by Tencent, the financing round has seen participation of new investors including Touchdown Ventures, Colorcon Ventures, Navian Investments, and University of Minnesota.
Additionally, Alexandria Venture Investments, 5AM Ventures, DCVC Bio, and Alta Partners, the existing investors, have participated in the financing round.
Novome intends to use the funding for advancing NOV001, its clinical hyperoxaluria candidate, to an ongoing Phase IIa clinical trial.
It will also use the proceeds to develop multiple Genetically Engineered Microbial Medicines (GEMMs) candidates to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
NOV-001 is an experimental combination product that comprises a recombinant live biotherapeutic product, NB1000S, and a botanically derived polysaccharide, NB2000P.
The company stated that the ongoing Phase IIa clinical trial is the next stage of the NOV-001 Phase I/IIa programme.
Findings from the Phase I stage of the clinical trial, which were reported late last year, showed NOV-001’s ability to safely treat the human gut with a therapeutically engineered microbe and control its abundance through once-daily dosing of a prebiotic control molecule.
The Phase IIa stage is designed to evaluate NOV-001’s safety, tolerability, and early efficacy in enteric hyperoxaluria patients.
Novome CEO Blake Wise said: “Our team has made tremendous progress this year, including initiation of the Phase 2a portion of the enteric hyperoxaluria clinical trial of NOV-001 and advancing our platform capabilities, most notably developing the ability for our oral GEMMs to deliver high amounts of therapeutic proteins to the gastrointestinal tract through continuous, controlled secretion.
“Novome’s recent accomplishments and this new funding should further advance and validate our platform’s capabilities and unlock additional pipeline opportunities.”